There’s beauty in a true community band: It serves as a meeting place for those who love music – whether it’s playing it or hearing it.

And it also is a place where people can come and play whether they are just beginning, have been playing for 30 years, or maybe haven’t played in half a lifetime.

For Gene Taliaferro-Jones, the music director of the Onslow Winds Community Band, his band is all of these things.

“There's a fellowship in band that you don’t find in other activities,” Taliaferro-Jones said.

Monday, the Onslow Winds Community Band started its season with a rehearsal from 6:30 to 9 p.m. at the New Bridge Middle School band room. Any and all musicians were and still are invited to join the band free of charge.

“There are no auditions because we'll have people come in who haven’t played in 20 years,” he said.

That’s no big deal, according to Taliaferro-Jones, who said his musicians can come in and sit wherever they want.

The Onslow Winds Community Band is a normal symphonic band according to its instrumentation.

Especially here in a military community, numbers go up and down a lot with deployments, Taliaferro-Jones said. The saxophone section is one of the most “volatile sections” – sometimes they have enough, sometimes they only have a few players. Taliaferro-Jones said they also always have a shortage of percussionists and players for the low bras section.

Taliaferro-Jones said it is common to see members ranging in age from 16 to 75 years.

“It’s unbelievable how many truly talented players we have,” he said.

The band as it exists today started in January 2003 by local music educators and community members who wanted to provide a musical outlet for lovers of band and for music education.

The band plays free community concerts including a Pops concert, holiday concerts and also plays for Coastal Carolina Community College graduations.

For band members to play in a concert, all they need to do is come to rehearsal regularly, Taliaferro-Jones said.

For those musicians who want to play but do not own an instrument or have one here, Taliaferro-Jones said the band and its members will do their best to help.

“We still want them to show up, because that's the only way we'll be able to help them,” he said. “We are able to help people find an instrument if they don't have one - we can ask around, investigate.”

He said, normally they can find an instrument for most players except when they are on the hunt for the rarer instruments such as oboes or bassoons. Sometimes musicians in the band have more than one instrument that they are willing to loan to fellow band members.

Page 2 of 2 - Taliaferro-Jones said they don’t just take wind instrumentalists – they have more than enough room for string players.

“We never have too many,” he said.

On Monday they practiced their first rehearsal of the new season, and Taliaferro-Jones said he planned to look at 10 to 12 pieces and see which “best suits the band.”

Allan Boyce, who has played trumpet with the band for approximately two years now, said Monday’s rehearsal went really well.

Boyce has a degree in music, but said he hadn’t used it in 40 years except for the occasional recreational playing in symphonic orchestras over the years. He joined the Onslow Winds Community Band to get back into playing band music, which he said he hadn’t played much since college.

“I enjoy the people that are there,” he said of the community band. “It’s a very interesting group: diverse, from students to college professors.”

With the differing levels of experience among the musicians, he said it presents a challenge and enjoyment to the band members.

“I’m probably one of the older members of the band, but it goes all the way down to high school students, and people get along well,” Boyce said.

He added that older members often mentor the younger players.

He also said the band gives music students a chance to experiment with different instruments.

“If you’re going to have a degree in music education, you’ve got to know how to play them all,” Boyce said. “(The band) gives people a chance to play other instruments and broaden their base. You don’t have a lot of places where you can do that.”

Want to join?

The Onslow Winds Community Band rehearses on Monday nights beginning at 6:30 p.m. in the New Bridge Middle School band room located at 401 New Bridge St. in Jacksonville. Rehearsal ends at 9 p.m.

Anyone can join the band without audition except for Coastal Carolina Community College music majors who are taking band for credit.

To learn more about the Onslow Winds Community Band or how to join, visit www.onslowwinds.org or contact director Gene Taliaferro-Jones at 910-545-9344.